Healthy clam?

[vetteguy53081]

Hi vetteguy53081, thank you for your wisdom and advice. It's very nice of you that you are always willing to help others.
So I understand "clams generally dont fall down quickly" but for this batch of hippopus clams, I lost one of two hippopus overnight. The water parameter is not off, I have maxima doing fine and other sps corals in that qt as well.
Could it be shipping stress? Do small clams handle and survive well with the shipping stress?

Another time I placed 3 clams from petco (supposedly dropped shipped from ORA but it came in cold). They all died within couple days. Again water parameter was fine. I did not mess with lighting this time. Any potential reason or reasons why this might have happened?

Shipping stress especially temperature changes will have an impact but good acclimation often stabilizes them. I have found drip method to not always be the best with them. Other would be amount of time in transport and of course quality of clam that was shipped

 

[Madison Reef]

Shipping stress especially temperature changes will have an impact but good acclimation often stabilizes them. I have found drip method to not always be the best with them. Other would be amount of time in transport and of course quality of clam that was shipped

What's your preferred way of acclimation? I used drip acclimation for roughly two hours.

 

[vetteguy53081]

What's your preferred way of acclimation? I used drip acclimation for roughly two hours.

I temperature adjust and release contents in a clean bucket and add tank water to bucket until the salinity of the bucket matches that of the tank

 

[JoJosReef]

Sad news folks, hippo didn't make it and the CUC cleaned it out overnight.

Hopefully one day will get a chance to try a hippo again. Next time, I will for sure be personally examining the clam to make sure it opens and is responsive before I leave with it.

Thanks to everyone that has been giving advice!

 

[Madison Reef]

Sad news folks, hippo didn't make it and the CUC cleaned it out overnight.

Hopefully one day will get a chance to try a hippo again. Next time, I will for sure be personally examining the clam to make sure it opens and is responsive before I leave with it.

Thanks to everyone that has been giving advice!

I'm so sorry to hear the news and I hope you the best for the future. Currently looking at my clam with worried eyes. Mine is at day 8, and I honestly feel like that it will follow your suit. I will keep it posted. Thank you for sharing.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Sad news folks, hippo didn't make it and the CUC cleaned it out overnight.

Hopefully one day will get a chance to try a hippo again. Next time, I will for sure be personally examining the clam to make sure it opens and is responsive before I leave with it.

Thanks to everyone that has been giving advice!

Oh No. Hold off with any new introductions at least a couple of weeks and monitor your water quality, mainly nitrate, phosphate and alk levels

 

[minus9]

Oh No. Hold off with any new introductions at least a couple of weeks and monitor your water quality, mainly nitrate, phosphate and alk levels

Water parameters had nothing to do with that clam’s death. I’m afraid it wasn’t a healthy specimen to start with.
Sorry about the clam, it’s always tough losing them.
For acclimating clams, I usually find a fast drip and matching salinity works best. How long that takes depends on the difference between the tank water and clam’s water. These are complex animals, so slow won’t do them any harm, but going too fast can shock them. I’ve always found slower works better with inverts, corals usually go right in for the most part. The overall health determines how they’ll respond to any acclimation method.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Water parameters had nothing to do with that clam’s death. I’m afraid it wasn’t a healthy specimen to start with.
Sorry about the clam, it’s always tough losing them.
For acclimating clams, I usually find a fast drip and matching salinity works best. How long that takes depends on the difference between the tank water and clam’s water. These are complex animals, so slow won’t do them any harm, but going too fast can shock them. I’ve always found slower works better with inverts, corals usually go right in for the most part. The overall health determines how they’ll respond to any acclimation method.

Did not say water quality was cause and yes likely a weak clam. I did encourage him to maintain good water quality prior to adding anything in the future.

 

[minus9]

Did not say water quality was cause and yes likely a weak clam. I did encourage him to maintain good water quality prior to adding anything in the future.

Apologies, I misread your post. But I am a bit confused as to why they shouldn’t add anything for a couple weeks? I guess being cautious is good and couldn’t hurt?

 

[vetteguy53081]

Apologies, I misread your post. But I am a bit confused as to why they shouldn’t add anything for a couple weeks? I guess being cautious is good and couldn’t hurt?

In the event something is off . While a water change may alleviate the possibility, we/they want to be sure water is ok moving forward

 

[JoJosReef]

Apologies, I misread your post. But I am a bit confused as to why they shouldn’t add anything for a couple weeks? I guess being cautious is good and couldn’t hurt?

Being cautious seems prudent. This is my second clam death, the first being a derasa that arrived from ASD with a weird shell pattern and died within 2 weeks, the second being this tiny hippopus from ASD that never fully opened and also died around the 2 week mark.

It could be that both clams from ASD were just not in good shape. Or it could be something with my tank. I currently have a crocea from Clammania and will be watching this one closely. I picked it out in person--it is small, but that's what the budget allowed--and I watched it for responsiveness, how quickly it reopened, etc. It is attached to a rock near the substrate but with the Kessil spotlight on it giving it 400-500 PAR range during the day.

Nutrients run low in my system (NO3 >0, but <1ppm; PO4 0.06ppm), but I don't think it's an ultra-low-nutrient-system. It is continual nutrient introduction and consumption--there's like 7 substantial feedings per day in the tank with a lot of fish (n=10).

Tank is a mixed reef 40gal with soft, LPS and SPS growing at a fast rate.

So I will be working on bringing nitrates a bit higher without adverse effects and just monitoring the crocea for health. If the crocea is showing shell growth and surviving for a longer period of time, I will think about another hippopus or derasa.

I'm beginning to have doubts about ordering clams online, though. I've signed up for the email alerts from Biota for hippopus, derasa and squamosa clams. I've read good things about Biota, so might give that a try, but I'm probably not buying another clam from ASD. If the crocea does well, I'll consider Clammania again since they are local, although I get confusing information from the owner--he told me hippopus like less light, whereas online and James Fatheree seems to say that they like quite a lot of light. Dunno, his clams seem healthy, though!

 

[JoJosReef]

In the event something is off . While a water change may alleviate the possibility, we/they want to be sure water is ok moving forward

My thoughts. By all appearances, the tank is doing well under current conditions, but there could be something off. I'm running carbon for nems and leathers, so I don't know if having them present in the tank can be bothersome for clams. SPS is growing well. Some LPS is growing very well, others are growing slowly. Softies growing well. Nems doing well except for the occasional RFA that gets its skirt in a ruffle. Nitrates could be increased a bit, but there is a lot going into the tank that is being consumed.

Best to be sure everything is OK before adding another clam. Maybe next time I will aim for a larger specimen, too.

 

[JoJosReef]

Sad news. Came into the office and the crocea was dead and completely cleaned out. This comes as a shock to me, since this clam was definitely healthy up arrival to my tank, so this is not a case of starvation. I assume one of two things is happening:

1. Something is really off with my water
2. There's been a murder(s) in the tank

This is a video of my tank. I'm trying to see signs that something is off, but not seeing much. Full suite of water parameter tests to follow (just got in and have meetings). Would the clams be more sensitive than the corals to the biochem warfare of the leathers, palys and anemones? I run carbon changed every 2 weeks.

Shared album from Joseph 📸

Tap to view!

photos.app.goo.gl

I'd appreciate the input. I've retired the spotlight and will not be stocking any clams in the near future, sadly.

 

[CBonito]

Man, that sucks.

 

[minus9]

Sad news. Came into the office and the crocea was dead and completely cleaned out. This comes as a shock to me, since this clam was definitely healthy up arrival to my tank, so this is not a case of starvation. I assume one of two things is happening:

1. Something is really off with my water
2. There's been a murder(s) in the tank

This is a video of my tank. I'm trying to see signs that something is off, but not seeing much. Full suite of water parameter tests to follow (just got in and have meetings). Would the clams be more sensitive than the corals to the biochem warfare of the leathers, palys and anemones? I run carbon changed every 2 weeks.

Shared album from Joseph 📸

Tap to view!

photos.app.goo.gl

I'd appreciate the input. I've retired the spotlight and will not be stocking any clams in the near future, sadly.

With how healthy your corals look, I would look at predators as a likely culprit. What is your fish list? Also, any Caribbean or Gulf live rock? Btw, sorry about the clam(s). What other inverts do you have, shrimp, crabs, etc?

 

[CBonito]

With how healthy your corals look, I would look at predators as a likely culprit. What is your fish list? Also, any Caribbean or Gulf live rock? Btw, sorry about the clam(s). What other inverts do you have, shrimp, crabs, etc?

That was my thought as well. Something ate it. But what?

 

[JoJosReef]

With how healthy your corals look, I would look at predators as a likely culprit. What is your fish list? Also, any Caribbean or Gulf live rock? Btw, sorry about the clam(s). What other inverts do you have, shrimp, crabs, etc?

Fish:
-Tailspot blenny (top piscine suspect, seen it take small nips)
-Exquisite firefish
-2x occelaris clowns
-2x pink streak wrasses
-Yellow Halichoeres wrasse
-Blue star leopard wrasse
-Dusky fairy wrasse (Cirrhilabrus brunneus)
-Yasha shrimp goby

Inverts:
-Spotted nem crab
-Blue porcelain crab
-Sexy shrimp

Snails:
-1x Marginella snail
-1-2x Nassarius vibex
-Trochus
-Astraeas
-Ceriths
-2x small conches
-Nerites
-2x money cowrie
(All snails purchased from ReefCleaners)

1/3rd of rocks are TBS gulf rock, over 2 years old. Remaining rocks are dried Marshall Islands and Fiji rocks from a long long time ago.

Known worms:
-Spaghetti worms
-Bristleworms (likely from Fiji Mud eggs)
-Clymenella, aka spike funnel anus worm (copyright pending)

Unknown worms:
-Eunice (some TBS rocks had Eunice worms in my nano, but those that had known Eunice worms are no more.
-Dorvillidae worms (again, in the nano but never seen in this tank)

That's about all I can think of.

 

[dansyr]

Sad news. Came into the office and the crocea was dead and completely cleaned out. This comes as a shock to me, since this clam was definitely healthy up arrival to my tank, so this is not a case of starvation. I assume one of two things is happening:

1. Something is really off with my water
2. There's been a murder(s) in the tank

This is a video of my tank. I'm trying to see signs that something is off, but not seeing much. Full suite of water parameter tests to follow (just got in and have meetings). Would the clams be more sensitive than the corals to the biochem warfare of the leathers, palys and anemones? I run carbon changed every 2 weeks.

Shared album from Joseph 📸

Tap to view!

photos.app.goo.gl

I'd appreciate the input. I've retired the spotlight and will not be stocking any clams in the near future, sadly.

Murderer is my suspicion too. Not necessarily a 'predator', in the sense of something that can preys regularly on happy healthy clams, but something like an overly enthusiastic detritivore. might be worth putting in a table shrimp underneath a mesh cup so it's not just a fish snack and seeing who comes out?

 

[JoJosReef]

Murderer is my suspicion too. Not necessarily a 'predator', in the sense of something that can preys regularly on happy healthy clams, but something like an overly enthusiastic detritivore. might be worth putting in a table shrimp underneath a mesh cup so it's not just a fish snack and seeing who comes out?

One of these days when I'm in the office at night I'll put out a piece of shrimp and see what the freak show brings out.

 

[minus9]

Well, if you can look at night, there may be some snails like whelks in the tank that you wouldn't see during the day. There are a few from the gulf that can wreak havoc on mollusks. You might want to set a trap as mentioned above. Fish wouldn't be a culprit, as they are usually sleeping, tucked in at night, so this leaves snails, crabs and worms.